Slideshow: 10 things you should know about Win 8

SAN JOSE, Calif. – The debut of Windows 8 on Friday (Oct. 26) marks the end of the Wintel duopoly, right? Well, yes and no.

Microsoft is rolling out its next big version of Windows and its own Surface tablet as its first platform. Yes, both Win 8 and Surface come in versions for ARM-based SoCs. But the Wintel duopoly is going strong despite this threat and ones before it.

Remember ACE? Compaq, Microsoft, NEC and a few other PC leaders got together in 1991 to define a MIPS-based desktop that would run Windows NT and SCO Unix. Motherboards from systems like the MIPS RC3230 (below) were supposed to be x86 killers.

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Click on image to enlarge.

The ACE PCs didn’t offer much more performance than Pentium PCs of the day, especially after Intel got more aggressive in the use of the latest semiconductor process technology. And the ACE systems were a bit pricey. So they never took off.

Today, most PC makers have already rolled out full portfolios of x86 Win 8 desktops and notebooks. Only a handful of companies—Acer, Asus, Lenovo, Samsung and ZTE—are expected to make systems (just tablets, so far) for Windows RT, and those probably will not be ready until early 2013.

Still, there’s a growing fissure in the Wintel duopoly, and it comes a touchy time with traditional desktop and notebook sales sputtering. ARM has built up a powerful ecosystem, riding the smartphone and smart everything juggernaut unlike the ad hoc ACE group of the 1990s.

If ARM gets a foot in the door (to mix metaphors) and uses its leverage in tablets, the 64-bit ARM chips that emerge could start appearing in notebooks, desktops and even servers. Who knows? Come the fall of 2015, we may see the debut of Windows Server for ARM, too.

This would have major repercussions for the semiconductor industry, especially its largest member--Intel. The x86 giant would not be able to sustain its average selling prices that now hover around $100 for client CPUs in the face of ARM SoCs that typically cost about $20.

The industry’s biggest microprocessor maker might become the new and largest alternative to TSMC. FinFETs, anyone?

Meanwhile there are plenty of interesting and awkward twists and turns ahead thanks to the advent of Win 8. We offer some examples in the following pages.

Cool! Corning has always amazed me as progressive company. One of my fist job interviews in the industry was on a cold February when they flew me to the city of Corning, NY, but after experiencing the weather I rejected the offer.

Microsoft made most of their money being able to upgrade people at regular intervals while maintaining compatibility with existing Apps and to a lesser degree use models. When they got to Vista they really broke this model, and it hurt them. I read last week that with W8 they are looking to use a java type model where all apps run as byte-code so they can reduce/eliminate developer effort when porting from one win platform to another. The plan is that if an app is developed for W8 it can run on a phone, a tablet or even across the web. Sounds good on the surface (pardon the pun) doesn't it? Well I recently upgraded a bit of SW that I use regularly to a java byte-code version and found that it ran like it was running on a 4.77MHz IBM-XT. It was woeful. Espewcially because I am running a Pentium i7 at 3.2GHz. I quickly downgraded to the old version. If this is to be the W8 experience then I will stick with XP and maybe W7 and finally when no W7 is available I will hopefully be able to migrate entirely to Linux because developer have realised what a dead end strategy it is. Also re the new tablet I/F, I use CAD programs extensively they are driven most accurately and quickly with a combination of keystrokes (on a real keyboard) and with a mouse/trackball/3D joystick, finger swipes just don't cut it.

:-) I use Ubuntu as a dual boot feature on my XP desktop. I like it a lot, so much more professional, less buggy and very snappy BUT: If my world revolved around an MSoffice type app and email an web I'd be on the Linux band wagon only. Sadly of the ~100 applications I use daily to make money only 2 are available under Linux. That leaves me and a large number of other people in the unenviable position of needing some flavour of Windows (see my other post below)

Microsoft is too large an operation to ever design an efficient OS. The competition has little to fear.
What is interesting is the tablet revolution. I took two years of typing in HS before I ever knew it would be useful for my career (CS degree). At the time it was predicted that typing was a skill that would not be needed by the time I got to the work force. That hasn't happened in the last 40 years. Instead the ASR33 became the input device for minis and later micros, followed by VDTs and then PCs, all with keyboards (QWERTY, no less--I learned DVORAK a bit once). With a little more effort, the keyboard may eventually not be an essential part of the personal computing experience. Certainly the tablet is a strong pointer in that direction, although it's present pop-up keyboard represents at least a temporary large step backward.